Letter to the Editor - June 1

June 01, 2012

May God bless all who have served this country

To the editor:

It is commendable that The Herald-Mail remembers local veterans by printing their stories to honor their service in wartimes. Their recollections of combat and situations in the throes of death and the horrors of war illustrate the debt of gratitude we owe them.

I missed the draft for the Korean conflict due to a 4F physical classification, but I spent my college years with many returning vets of that war. During WWII, my father was busy processing soldiers through Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania. But my hero at that time was my uncle, Arthur Garrett, a sergeant with the 101st Airborne, 506th PIR that dropped behind German lines at Normandy. He went on to participate in Operation Market Garden, where paratroopers dropped right on the Germans in Holland and later to be part of the famous defense of Bastogne, Belgium. He fought through the Bulge and into the heartland of Germany until their surrender in 1945. All of 150 pounds and 5-foot-9, he really looked sharp in his jump boots and combat ribbons, which included a Purple Heart. Luckily, he was a survivor of more than 100 days of combat. Many of his “Band of Brothers” were not.

Having read many books of firsthand accounts in the various conflicts of the 20th century in which American men and women served, I have developed a real understanding of why we must honor and respect those who have and now serve our country in the military. They have risked it all for the continuation of our freedoms here at home. May God bless them all for doing so.